De/Constructing “Suspect” Communities

The ‘immunized integration’ of Religious-Zionists within Israeli society: the pre-military academy as an institutional model

“…Our focus will be on this communal leadership discourse, which is conducted 'top down' (Curtis, 1999) and 'on stage' (Goffman, 1959, p. 65). For this reason, the article does not examine 'bottom-up' communal discourse (Nickels, Thomas, Hickman, & Silvestri, 2012). The research here is based on analysis of religious lectures, publicist articles, media interviews, halakhic literature, speeches at ceremonies, and other expressions and statements emanating from the communal leadership with regard to military service and other social issues.…”

Framing alleged Islamist plots: a case study of British press coverage since 9/11

“…("Terror arrests after fears of football bomb", The Times, April 20, 2004) One possible consequence of constructing narratives to alleged plots from the perspectives of the Muslim communities affected by police operations is that it portrays these episodes, and by association the wider threat from contemporary terrorism, as belonging to these communities. As other research has shown, giving local residents a right of reply to allegations of terrorism and anti-Muslim sentiment simultaneously reflected and recycled a discourse that "challenged and questioned the loyalty of young Muslims to their countries" (Marranci 2006, 100), and contributed to the representation of Muslim communities as "suspect" (Pantazis and Pemberton 2009;Nickels et al 2012). Therefore, by identifying individuals from Muslim communities as the focus for counterterrorism operations, it may serve to reinforce a negative representation of Muslim communities 12…”

“…Giving voice to those communities affected by counterterrorism operations is indicative of broader discourses on contemporary terrorism, with Muslim communities positioned in relation to extremists (Nickels et al 2012), reflecting the UK government's post 9/11 counterterrorism strategy, particularly the PREVENT strand of CONTEST 1 introduced under Blair's premiership 2 that emphasised the role of Muslim communities in responding to the challenges of radicalisation and extremism (Home Office 2006;McGhee 2008, 79).…”

Narratives of success among Irish and African Caribbean migrants

“…Thus Harry did not fit with the emblematic image of an Irish migrant as an unskilled, manual labourer (Nickels et al 2012), while Theo did not fit into stereotypical patterns of educational failure and low social status among African Caribbean men in Britain. Further, serial migration is antithetical to contemporary canonical narratives of normative families as happily co-resident.…”

“…Public and political anxieties about levels of immigration are a recurrent theme within the UK, as are accompanying discourses about the economic and social threats which migrants pose (Gilroy 1982;Greater London Council 1988;Nickels et al 2012;Jones et al 2014;Runnymede 2014). Within contemporary debates the figure of the successful migrant is deployed by public figures performatively, in contrast to stories about failed or exploitative migration.…”